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Acknowledgments | |
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Introduction | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Themes of Relational Communication | |
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Personal Relationships Are Distinct | |
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Human Choices Influence Personal Relationships | |
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Communication Is a Primary Influence on Personal Relationships | |
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Personal Relationships Are Processes | |
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Overview of Relational Communication | |
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The Chapters That Follow | |
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Gender and Sex in Personal Relationships | |
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A Personal Introduction | |
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Conceptual Foundations For Studying Personal Relationships | |
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Communication and Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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About This Book | |
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Defining Personal Relationships | |
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Continuing, Significant Interdependence | |
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Between Particular Individuals | |
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Voluntary Commitment | |
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Continuously in Process | |
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First Insights into Personal Relationships | |
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Personal Relationships Vary | |
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Personal Relationships Affect Identity | |
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Personal Relationships Share Common Features | |
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Influences on Personal Relationships | |
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Assuming Agency | |
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Acting on Knowledge | |
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Ensuring Mutual Commitment and Investment | |
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Dealing with Uncertainty | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Theoretical Insights into Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Theorizing Society | |
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Mind | |
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Self | |
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The Generalized Other | |
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Theorizing Social Communities | |
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Standpoint Theory | |
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Attachment Theory | |
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Theorizing Individuals | |
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Constructivism or Social Cognition Theory | |
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Changes in Scripts | |
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Theorizing Relationship Dynamics | |
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Systems Theory | |
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Social Exchange Theory | |
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Dialectical Theory | |
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Turning Points | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Communication: The Central Dynamic in Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Communication as Symbolic Interaction | |
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Symbols | |
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Symbols and Meaning | |
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Premises About Communication | |
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Communication Is Rule Guided | |
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Communication Involves Two Levels of Meaning | |
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Individuals Punctuate Communication | |
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Contexts of Communication Affect Meanings | |
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Meanings Are Not Necessarily Shared by Partners | |
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Listening Is at Least as Important as Talking | |
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Metacommunication Can Improve Relationships | |
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Dual Perspective Is Critical for Effective Communication in Personal Relationships | |
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Communication Is Not Always Consistent | |
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In Personal Relationships, Partners Affect Each Other | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Relational Culture: The Nucleus of Intimacy | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Relational Culture | |
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Defining Relational Culture | |
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Features of Relational Culture | |
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Central Dynamics of Relational Culture | |
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Relational Dialectical Processes | |
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Responding to Dialectics | |
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Organizing Structures | |
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Symbolic Practices | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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The Social Context of Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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The Best and Worst of Times | |
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Culture as a Context of Intimacy | |
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Cultures Legitimate Only Some Personal Relationships | |
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Sex Roles in Relationships | |
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Changes in Cultural Views of Relationships | |
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Current Social Trends | |
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Technology | |
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Mobility | |
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Acceleration | |
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Transience as a Way of Life | |
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Diversity | |
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Pluralistic Values | |
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Proliferating Family Forms | |
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Reconfiguring Personal Identity | |
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Relational Selves | |
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Saturated Selves | |
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Affirming Personal Agency | |
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Influence, Not Determination | |
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The Agency of Relational Selves | |
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Catching Ourselves | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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The Evolution of Personal Relationships | |
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Launching Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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A Developmental Perspective on Intimacy | |
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Initial Developmental Thinking: Linear, External Models | |
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Individual Interpretations of Relationship Development | |
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Turning Points | |
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Sources of Relationship Knowledge | |
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Initial Interaction: The Genesis of Relationships | |
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Attraction | |
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Communicating Interest | |
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Interpreting Others | |
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Explorational Communication: Reducing Uncertainty | |
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Breadth of Information | |
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Depth of Information | |
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Developmental Dialogue | |
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Tendencies in Early Relationship Development | |
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Features of Early Interaction | |
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Complications of Early Interaction | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Committing to Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Passionate Love and Commitment: Different Issues | |
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Companionate Features | |
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Sex Differences | |
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Styles of Love | |
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Primary Styles of Love | |
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Secondary Styles of Love | |
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Understanding Your Love Style | |
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Communication Processes During Committing | |
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Private Intensifying | |
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Personalized Communication | |
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Idealizing | |
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Building Relational Culture | |
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Publicizing the Relationship | |
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Intimate Commitment | |
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Preparing to Commit | |
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The Meaning of Commitment | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Maintaining and Repairing Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Alternative Approaches to Relationship Continuity | |
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Early Approaches to Relationship Continuity | |
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Social Exchange | |
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A Dialogical Approach | |
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Everyday Rhythms in Personal Relationships | |
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Routines for Contact | |
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Common Involvements | |
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Patterns of Interaction | |
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Everyday Talk | |
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Reflection | |
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Managing Disagreements | |
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Revitalizing Relationships | |
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Dynamic Equilibrium: Change as Constant | |
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Sources of Relationship Change | |
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Systemic Change | |
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Strategies to Maintain and Repair Relationships | |
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Maintaining Relationships | |
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Repairing Relationships | |
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Gendered Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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Feminine Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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Masculine Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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Tensions Between Gendered Views of Relationships | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Transforming and Ending Personal Relationships | |
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Key Concepts | |
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Processes of Relationship Deterioration | |
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Dyadic Breakdown | |
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Intrapsychic Phase | |
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Dyadic Phase | |
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Social Phase | |
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Grave Dressing | |
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Symptoms and Sources of Decline in Personal Relationships | |
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Deterioration in Communication | |
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Destructive Conflict | |
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Changes in Standards for Evaluating Relationships | |
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Major Transgressions | |
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Inequity | |
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Partners' Reflections | |
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Ending and Redefining Personal Relationships | |
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Parting Ways | |
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Living with Languished Intimacy | |
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Trial Separations (Recess) | |
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Suspending Interaction | |
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Transforming Personal Relationships | |
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Summary | |
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For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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Recommended Readings | |
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Summing Up: Communication, Choice, Commitment, and Change in Personal Relationships | |
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Communication | |
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Communication Creates Identity | |
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Communication Creates Personal Relationships | |
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Choice | |
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Responsibility | |
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"Small" Choices | |
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Commitment | |
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Change | |
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Personal Changes | |
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Relationship Changes | |
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Cultural Changes | |
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Glossary | |
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References | |
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Index | |